Page 65 of A Forest Witch

“Speaking of babies, we should talk about birth control. I can send you something to take so this won’t be an issue for you until you’re ready for it.”

I looked at her in horror. “Why ever would I take such a thing? I want to have babies. Especially since I know I get to keep them and no one will ever take them away from me. I want to have lots of babies.”

Now it was she who looked at me in horror.

“You do understand where babies come from, right?” she asked in a voice full of shock. “They destroy your vagina.”

She shuddered delicately and I laughed at her.

“My vagina will be just fine,” I assured her.

“Christ,” Rain grumbled unhappily as he walked up to us. “I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear anything about your vagina. And I don’t even want to know what the hell kind of conversation I just walked in on but it’s over now.”

“Probably for the best,” Ariel rushed out with a pretty pink blush spreading across her cheeks.

“Alright, girl,” Rain said as he held his arms out to me. “Come here and give this old man a hug. I’m gonna miss you but hopefully not for too long.”

And now I wanted to cry again.

Rain was the reason why I was alive and had found my coven. If he hadn’t sent them in to investigate my camp I probably would have died tied to that tree.

I stepped into his arms and hugged him as tightly as I possibly could.

“Thank you,” I whispered in a choked up voice. “You changed my whole entire life and I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you.”

I sniffled and he squeezed me tighter. “None of that now, girl. Don’t you go crying on me. How you thank me is by living your best life and being happy. That’s all I want for you.”

“I can do that,” I murmured. At least I hoped I could do that. It sounded easy enough but I knew nothing in life was that simple.

At least for me it wasn’t.

He let me go and stepped back. I wiped at my eyes to hide the evidence of my traitorous tears.

“I’m not much of a hugger,” Ariel said gruffly and I laughed. There was a sheen of tears in her eyes that I was surprised to see. “But I’ll suck it up for you. Just this once.”

Much like her dad, she held her arms open to me and I stepped right into them. I held onto her tightly but not for as long as I did with Rain. The last thing I wanted to do was make her cry.

I let her go and stepped back.

“Let me know when you get home safely.”

She nodded. “I will. And as soon as I know when the first Council meeting is I’ll let you know the details. Everyone will want to meet you and I’m sure you’ll want to get to know the others as well.”

I did. I couldn’t wait for it to get started. I had a few ideas that I wanted to discuss with her about how she moved the witch community forward that I couldn’t wait to get into.

They said their goodbyes to the guys and got in their SUV and drove off.

I expected to feel worse than I did but I was actually lighter than I had been this morning.

I had a bright future ahead of me and a lot to look forward to.

Raven wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side.

“Let’s get you inside, baby. It’s cold out here and I don’t want you getting sick.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’d spent every winter of my life living outside in the woods in much colder weather and I’d never once gotten sick.

I didn’t think it was wise to remind them of my past hardships.

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